


The Nightmare Beside Guardians

by She_sees_in_the_dark



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Angst, BAMF Jack, BAMF Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), BAMF Jack Skellington, Bunny has had about enough, Canon Temporary Character Death, Cartoon Physics, Courage, Creepy Pitch Black (Guardians of Childhood), Easter, Easter Egg Hunt, Easter Eggs, Fear, Fear vs Courage, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Having Faith, Holiday towns, Holidays, Hunt the Hunter, Hurt Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), Jack Skellington is Good with Kids, Jack Skellington is not dumb, Jack Skellington wants to please, Jack being Jack, KING OF HALLOWEEN FOR A REASON, King of Halloween, Know thy Enemy, Loss of Faith, North is patient, North is the Team Dad, North is trying guys, Protective Jack, Protective Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), Protective Nicholas St. North, Sandy is the sane guy, Strategy & Tactics, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team Feels, Teamwork, Temporary Character Death, The man in the moon is probably enjoying this, Think like your Enemy, Thinking like a Scary Person, Tooth is scared, Uneasy Allies, Unexpected Allies, Working with your former kidnapper, becoming a team, cartoon violence, temporary dismemberment
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:28:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23619046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/She_sees_in_the_dark/pseuds/She_sees_in_the_dark
Summary: The Guardians are not thrilled with Jack Frost is made one of them. They are LESS thrilled when Jack Skellington is made one too at the same time. Half of them have been kidnapped by him at some point, the other half are just scared of him, and besides, he is FAR too much like their enemy for them to be comfortable with his presence. That Jack Frost senses a kindred spirit in the Halloween King mostly just makes things worse. There is a role, after all, for fear in childhood-- just not the role Pitch wants it to be.But the Man in the Moon knows what he's doing, and he's the one in charge-- so they better try to get on with this saving-the-world thing. A retelling of Rise of the Guardians with more Halloween. Namely, with it's King.
Relationships: E. Aster Bunnymund & Jack Frost, Jack Frost & Nicholas St. North, Jack Frost & Pitch Black, Jack Skellington and Jack Frost, Jack Skellington and Pitch Black, Jack Skellington and Santa, Sally/Jack Skellington
Comments: 36
Kudos: 224





	1. The New Guardians

**Author's Note:**

> It seemed like a good time to release a holiday story, and I've been toying with this one for a while. I hope you like it? 
> 
> Happy Easter?

The Man in the Moon said Jack Frost was to be one of them. A Guardian.

“I take it back. The groundhog’s fine.” The Easter Bunny said, horrified.

North opened his mouth, then shook his head. “Hang on—he’s not done. Two in one night, Manny? It’s been a long time since there was one.”

The Man in the Moon did not answer North. The Man in the Moon rarely explained himself to anyone. But the second figure formed beside the first—obscenely tall with a skeleton grin.

“I take it back.” Bunny said, sounding faint. “Jack Frost is—no, I can’t make myself say it. He’s not fine. But this is worse. Are we sure Pitch isn’t in control of this right now?”

North didn’t look thrilled either. “Yes. Quite sure.”

Tooth was frowning, flitting between her companions—only Sandy seemed pleased. He was giggling soundlessly. “What’s wrong with these two? They… help protect the children, right?”

“Jack Frost is more about broken water pipes and sudden snowball fights than helping **_protect_** anyone. And Skellington is—”

North spoke, reluctantly. “He is not so bad.”

“Not so bad? He kidnapped me!”

“ ** _Da_** , me too. You are not special. **_You_** did not almost get eaten by bug-man.”

“Eaten?!” Tooth dropped to the earth when her wings forgot to beat.

“He’s reckless, likes to scare people almost as much as Pitch, and sure he has managed a major holiday—people really do believe in him—but he’s not about protecting anyone. He’s all for taking over other holidays too—”

“No, not anymore. We had a talk about that.” North said, staring into the figures before him. Looked up into the blazing moonlight. “You are sure, old friend?”

Neither image wavered.

“He’s dangerous, and he’s—”

“A Guardian.” North said, taking a deep breath. “They both are.”

***

The Northern Lights, green and red and purple, danced. Far away, in Halloween Town, Jack paused in his nightly pursuits to watch the distant glow. He decided, after a moment, that it was a light he quite liked, though perhaps not one that he could have explained to the other townsfolk. He smiled. He’d made that mistake once. Just once.

He let whoever was coming up “sneak” up on him—because it encouraged the little ghosts and ghouls, to “surprise” the pumpkin king. He was genuinely surprised when, instead of announcing themselves, they threw him in a bag.

Well. This was kind of interesting. No one had actually dared to do this to him before-- he could burn his way free—but no. Let’s just see where this is going…

And so help him, if they opened the sack up and there was **_anything_** present that rhymed with “noogie” there would be **_him_** to pay.


	2. The Ceremony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A ceremony begins and is ended. Two Jacks meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. Happy Halloween!

Jack Frost did not know what this was about, but he didn’t like it. He’d been having a perfectly good day, playing with the kids near his home—no, that wasn’t true. He’d been having a great day until the Tooth Fairy inadvertently stole his thunder, he’d had a short existential crisis, but seeing Sandman’s work had cheered him up—it always did. It was… beautiful. And no one saw him either.

But that oversized rodent had thrown him in a literal sack, and slammed into another sack—the sense of vertigo that came with magic portals, and then…

…. The North Pole?

Seriously, he had to be in so much trouble if the Guardians were taking time out of their so-busy days to haul him in. He tried to think about it—he hadn’t disrupted a major holiday since ’68, except for Christmas, and North seemed to approve of that. It always seemed to work well with Christmas, in fact.

But he swallowed his confusion. “Yeah, I love being thrown in a sack and tossed through a magic portal.”

“Me too!” came an unfamiliar voice from behind him, and he turned to see—okay, he had never actually met this guy in person before, but there weren’t that many skeleton men in stripy tuxes running around. If he was getting hauled in beside Jack Skellington, he was in serious trouble. He’d heard of him. But… the guy sounded genuinely happy, enthusiastic, and that was weirdly cheering. He flashed Jack a broad grin, his skull oddly mobile—and drew himself up to his full height.

He was unholy tall.

“Oh, good. That was my idea.” North said, apparently seriously. “You know Bunny, Obviously… both of you—”

“Obviously.” Frost said. Behind him, Skellington grinned.

Bunny shifted and looked away, and that made Frost blink and look back at his fellow kidnappee. Just who was this guy if people were flinching back from him here?

“Sandy, Tooth—”

“Hello Jack! I’ve heard a lot about you! And your teeth!”

Frost noted she wasn’t treating Skellington to this treatment. “My… what?” She had her hands in his mouth before he could say anything more, and he found that to be a bit much. Skellington leaned forward over his shoulder and grinned. Broadly. He had to lean down to do it. She flinched back. “Hey, thanks for the save.” Frost whispered, which made the man grin even more broadly—this guy seemed really happy, actually. Almost ridiculously so.

“Welcome.”

“Anyone wanna tell us why we’re here?” Frost said, because… okay, he hadn’t even been properly introduced to Skellington, but he seemed like he was at least in the same situation as he was and good natured about it.

Sandy tried, he really did, but the images above his head were too fast—nonsensical. “Thanks anyway little man. I must have done something really, really bad to get you four together—am I on the naughty list?”

“On Naughty List? Ha! You hold record. Only Skellington surpasses you.”

Skellington seemed to deflate a little. What? “Oh. I’m sorry.”

“No matter, no matter. Now, we wipe clean slate.”

Skellington immediately brightly. Frost was incredulous—at the skeleton man as much as at North. “How come?”

“Good question.” Bunny said. Well, it couldn’t be that bad if Bunny was unhappy about it.

“Why? I will tell you! Because now! You! Are! Guardians!”

…. No one should be as happy as Skellington apparently was about torches and horns being blown in their face. Skellington reacted to all of the banners and noises and the fairies flying forward with a necklace – Skellington seemed delighted.

Frost gave them eight seconds and decided he was done.

They weren’t prepared for him to bring his staff down in a cascade of frost, interrupting whatever weird ceremony this was. “What makes you think I want to be a Guardian?”

“Ha! Of course you do!”

Really? The Skeleton man loomed large behind him—weirdly, it made him feel more confident. “I’m serious! You guys don’t want me! And I certainly don’t want you! You’re way too straight laced—and I’m all about fun.”

“Fun _is_ good…” The Skeleton said, simply… but there was longing in his voice. Did he actually like the Guardians? His exploits against North were quite infamous, and there were rumors that he had struck against Bunny too.

Well… rumor wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

“Don’t you know what a Guardian is? Why we exist?” Tooth implored. She flinched back again when Skellington took another step forward, kept her eyes trained on Frost. “We protect the children.”

Frost wondered if anyone else had noticed how Skellington had drawn in a sharp breath at those words. Somehow… he thought not.

***

Skellington didn’t know what this was, but he loved it. He was in Sandy’s workshop again? And the man had invited, nay, kidnapped him in? The man had even brought in his own methods with the sack!

He wasn’t mad at him!

And there was so much excitement! The trumpets and the Guardians and… it was lovely! All strange and sparkling and completely inexplicable to the people in Halloween Town.

But the other spirit had been unhappy, confused, and that was sad. He had seen Frost from a distance, once or twice, but he had never said hello—the kid was young, for one of them, and uncertain. Maybe he thought they were in trouble. And the Tooth lady was pushy. He showed her his teeth, inviting her to bother him instead, but she hadn’t liked that.

Pity. But at least she left the kid alone.

He grinned at Sandy, willing to let them draw this out to whatever end it reached—Sandy grinned back. They had worked together before, once or twice, but Sandy wasn’t exactly chatty. The Bunny he flinched and that was sad. He wasn’t even trying to scare him! But North stood his ground.

But… the prospect of being one of them… a Guardian. He couldn’t deny the longing.

He had always protected the children. If not in the traditional sense. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, Happy Halloween! 
> 
> Sorry it's so short, and I hope you enjoy it anyway. Hopefully it afforded you just a little extra joy.
> 
> As always, comments of all sorts are welcome. Please. Let me know what you think.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! I have worked on this for a while--mostly the later bits. These bits are new. And weird. As is the custom.


End file.
